


Starfall

by aj_linguistik



Series: Starfall [2]
Category: Sword Art Online (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Science Fiction, Based off my SAO Prideweek work Meteor Shower, Bisexual Kirito, Bisexual Male Character, But it takes him a hot second, Eugeo is gay af, Fantasy AU, Fluff, For more reasons than one, Friends to Lovers, If you wish upon a star, Kirito is Pining Very Hard for Eugeo, Kirito is a starstruck little baby, M/M, Magical, The Kirisuna is literally just a background info thing brought up in chapter one, maybe you get a bf who knows, oh my god they were roommates
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-20
Updated: 2020-01-29
Packaged: 2020-03-08 08:12:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 10,033
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18890653
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aj_linguistik/pseuds/aj_linguistik
Summary: Based off of my SAO Prideweek 2019 one-shot, Meteor Shower.His heart? Broken. Shattered. Absolutely destroyed. And now he has to head to school and not return for five years. He's not too optimistic about his life post-breakup, but he has to keep moving forward. He's not expecting much at all. But his new roommate...there's just something about him. Something that gives him hope-and a strong burning feeling in his chest.





	1. A Wish

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: So, it was mentioned in the comments for Meteor Shower that there was interest in turning it into a bigger fic. I went and plotted some stuff and have come up with an introductory first chapter. I said I'd do two ongoing multichapter fics based off of those one-shots right now, and since the first was No Cheat Codes Available, this one got the prize for being the other one! I hope I can continue to paint a beautiful world and drive you crazy with some very slow friends to lovers boys.

            Always.

            A word that really comes with a lot of meaning but is frequently tossed around by hopeless teenage idiots in what they think is love. And I only say that because I was precisely that idiot. Yeah—mister “I’ll always love you, I’ll always be here for you!” and all that. What can I say, at fourteen, I truly believed she was the one. I doubt you’d blame me, either. I’m sure you’ve done it, too. You find that one super-special person and you’re all lovey with each other and saying pointless things. You know precisely what I’m talking about.

            But I first learned the weight of using that word when she dumped me, in front of my sister, right before I left the country. See, I’d been given a chance to be an exchange student in Underworld, which was several lightyears away from Aincrad. I’d broken this news to our friend group, and then Asuna went all quiet. Now, she stood before me and delivered the words any lovestruck fourteen-year-old might dread.

            “I’m breaking up with you.”

            Okay, ouch. Waiting right until the day I had to leave. She came up to my front door, asked to come inside, and then finished me off right then and there without warning. I swear my sister felt she’d overheard something she should have never overheard. Frankly, I tuned out all of the reasons why she chose to dump me. Some other guy? Maybe. Not really likely, knowing Asuna, but I couldn’t rule that out. A fault of my own? Probably. I should have been paying attention.

            _Maybe that was the problem all along._

            “You’re…serious,” I said.

            She nodded, tucking her hair behind her ear.

            “I mean, don’t take it too personally, Kirito, I just don’t think a long-distance relationship is really a good idea and you and I might meet other people while we’re in high school,” she said. “I do wish you the best of luck in Underworld, though. I hope you learn a lot about your magic and that it helps you move forward in life.”

            “Wait…”

            But she didn’t wait. She turned right on her heels and left as quickly as she’d come. I stared at the door as it slammed in my face, unable to process what had just happened. Suguha placed a hand on my shoulder. I jerked myself away from her.

            “Big brother, I’m sorry.”

            “I don’t want to hear about it.”  
            In the end, I had a middle-school appropriate breakup breakdown in my bedroom. My parents couldn’t coax me to come out for a departure dinner. I didn’t want any part of a celebration while my heart was broken. It wasn’t until after I was sure that everyone was sound asleep that I finally cracked open the door, snuck down the stairs, slipped on my shoes, and darted out of the house.

            We lived relatively close to the edge of Aincrad. Because of that, I had grown to have a particular fondness for hanging out by the exterior wall. Whenever I felt distressed, I’d run to the edge and peer out over the starry expanse. Instead of seeing the ground below me and the upper floors above me, I could gaze out at an infinite sea of celestial bodies and get lost in that oblivion.

            Tonight was no different. I propped my elbows up on the wall and stared out at the stars. They blurred together as tears streamed from my eyes. I glanced down at the ground. I reached down and picked a flower there that had somehow grown up through the cracks in the concrete. Holding that flower over the edge, I pulled off one petal and let go of it, watching it float downwards towards the base of Aincrad.

            “She loves me.”

            Gently, I picked the next and let it go as well.

            “She loves me not.”

            Back and forth. Over and over. The same phrases. Until I plucked the last petal, scrunched up my face, and almost refused to let it go. The petal quivered in my hand, begging me to drop it, so it, like its sisters, could be free in space. I pulled my fingers apart and watched it drift downwards, thinking my heart, too, was falling.

            “She loves me not.”

            I dropped the stem. I wouldn’t be able to come back to this spot until after I’d graduated from the academy. That was five years away. Tomorrow, I’d leave for another floating nation, one supposedly without walls and floors like Aincrad. I should have been ecstatic. But I simply stared at the universe in front of me and wept childishly over my first love.

            A star streaked across my vision. Drawing in my breath, I held it tight and made a wish.

            _Please. Just let me have someone special._

            Maybe I was too old for wishes. I made the wish so earnestly that anyone who might have seen me there with my hands clasped together and my face twisted in intense concentration might have mocked me for behaving like a child. I was a child, though.

            A child unaware that my wish would be granted in the most peculiar of ways.


	2. The Roommate

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: I'll admit I was messing around watching anime all day then at the last minute I went UPDATE SOMETHING. And I spent the rest of my time making this. Please enjoy a complementary terrible joke at the bottom.

            “Hi! I’m Eugeo. It’s so nice to finally meet you!”

            I stared at the blond-haired, green-eyed boy in front of me and wasn’t sure what to say. I’d arrived in Underworld at about midday in their time, which differed from Aincrad’s time by about six hours. My commute had been via the fastest way to travel between the floating continents, on the back of the giant jellyphants who were tamed to carry people across the starry expanse. I’d been a bit rude to my parents when I’d boarded, giving them curt goodbyes as if I could apologize for it later.

            “Your name’s Kirito, right?” he continued. “I feel kind of lucky to be the roommate of the exchange student. You’ll have to tell me what Aincrad is like!”

            Finally, I found words, somewhere deep inside of myself.

            “Well, there’s a lot more walls.”

            He started laughing. It was such a sweet and honest laugh that finally, after hours of keeping a firm frown on my face, the corners of my lips turned up. I didn’t think my statement was all that humorous, but it was enough for him.

            “I’m serious,” I said. “It’s built like a giant castle. You guys just have this…wimpy guard rail running around the edge of the continent.”

            Eugeo bent over and picked up one of my bags without any prompting whatsoever.

            “You know, they say that hundreds of years ago, Underworld was completely surrounded by tall, snow-capped mountains,” he said, his eyes sparkling. “And one day, a dragon from the deepest parts of space came and tried to consume the continent by flying around it and swallowing up entire mountains.”

            “That’s a scary concept,” I noted. “Um, you don’t have to carry that.”

            He shook his head.

            “I want to help!” he insisted, and then he dove back into his story. “The whole of the Underworld would have become the dragon’s dinner if it hadn’t been for the hero Bercouli!”

            “Cool name?” I said.

            I picked up my other bag and started following him as he walked. He’d been my point of contact at the port. It was Eugeo’s job to show me the way to the school and to our dorm. He seemed overly enthusiastic about this activity.

            “Right?” he said. “Bercouli defended the Underworld by fighting the dragon with his bare hands!”

            I had to laugh now. There was no avoiding it.

            “Are you sure that’s not an exaggeration?” I asked.

            I pictured an average-sized or maybe even slightly-bigger-than-average man trying to take on a space dragon. Space dragons, of course, which were just as capable of swallowing mountains as Eugeo claimed, were in comparison so large the guy must have looked like a flea next to it. Dragons were rather peaceful, though, and didn’t just eat continents unprovoked. Even they didn’t want to just bite down on a mouthful of dirt and rock. They typically preyed on other creatures floating in the sky, choosing to ignore the space of humans.

            “Well, it’s a legend,” he said. “Exaggeration is to be expected.”

            “Ah, true,” I mumbled.

            “Do you have any fun legends in Aincrad?” Eugeo asked.

            Frowning, I shrugged. Nothing as interesting as a dragon that wanted to eat mountains, if I thought about it. But considering he was excited just to meet me, it couldn’t hurt to share a little bit about my home country.

            “There is one that claims long ago, Aincrad wasn’t a floating continent,” I said.

            It was more of a suggestion to see if he was interested. He took the bait almost immediately.

            “What else could it possibly be?” he asked.

            I smiled.

            “A nation attached to a whole planet,” I said.

            His eyes widened.

            “The people of Aincrad believe that there used to be something called planets,” I continued. “They were round, kind of like a sphere, and land and water covered them completely. The story goes that the gods saw that humans and elves and dwarves fought so much over the land that they thrust the continents outwards into space, creating the floating continents we’re so familiar with today.”

            Now it was Eugeo’s turn to laugh.

            “A round world, huh?” he said. “That sounds unusual. The people on the bottom are walking with their heads sticking down!”

            “That’s certainly one way to put it,” I said.

            Eugeo pointed ahead of us.

            “That’s the Academy!” he said excitedly. “Doesn’t it look amazing from the outside?”

            He was right about that. The school itself was an enormous building—practically a castle. Sandy-colored bricks piled one on top of the other, reaching for the stars above. A wall matching the academy’s color scheme ran around it, giving it enough space to be filled with students who were all running around and engaging in various activities. Some girls had spread out blankets and were laid out, talking quietly to each other. A few people were curled up under trees reading books. Some boys were chasing each other around and over things. There were even a few sparring partners with wooden swords.

            “Whoa…” I breathed. “That’s…a lot of people.”

            “Are you shy?” Eugeo asked.

            No, that wasn’t it. I’d like to think there was a difference between shy and that feeling that crept into my chest whenever I was in a large group or being paid attention to by more than six people. I wasn’t quite sure how to articulate what was bothering me, so I ended up both shaking and nodding my head, giving poor Eugeo no read on my answer at all.

            “If you’re shy, don’t worry,” he reassured me. “I can handle conversing if people come up to us. Oh, but we do want to at least attract a little bit of attention from our upperclassmen.”

            I tilted my head.

            “Why’s that?” I asked.

            “If you stand out, one might choose to mentor you,” he said. “It’s not something they would have just told you when you agreed to be an exchange student. It’s not an official thing. But upperclassmen sometimes will pick a favorite underclassman and help them out with their studies. It’s a pretty big honor, because usually these people are the top-ranked students in their years.”

            “Ooh…I see,” I said.

            Dealing with a mentor one-on-one didn’t sound so bad, but I hoped you didn’t have to be _too_ social in order to gain a mentor. It made me wonder how social Eugeo was. He didn’t come across as the kind of person that would sneak out to parties.

            “The dorms are behind the main building,” Eugeo said. “Ours is on the third floor. It’ll be our space until we graduate, unless one or both of us fails out.”

            “Thanks for the vote of confidence,” I said.

            He laughed.

            “No, I’m just saying it’s not uncommon,” he said. “This school has one of the toughest curricula in all of the Underworld. Some people fail out and end up getting jobs in their family business instead of continuing to hone their magic. But that’s for the better, don’t you think?”

            I frowned.

            “Why so?”

            “If everyone used magic well, then there’d be no one left to do other jobs which are just as important,” he said. “Sure, it’s a big thing and seen as a symbol of status to practice magic, but everyday jobs that society overlooks are crucial and, in my opinion, just as honorable. There are people that make food, and we need food to live. Some people make clothes or houses or carry our mail.”

            He was getting a little deeper than I’d expected, but I gave him a nod.

            “You know, that makes sense,” I said. “Say, is it just the dorms and the main building here?”

            He shook his head.

            “There’s a cafeteria, a gym, a bathhouse, and a library behind the main lecture halls as well,” he told me. “The bathhouse is mostly a social thing for upperclassmen. We all have our own bathrooms to share in the dorms.”

            “I think I’ll pass on the idea of socializing at the bath,” I said, chuckling.

            “Agreed.”

            I followed him along the path until we stopped in front of a four-story building. Several balconies sat on the sides, some with students already sitting or standing on them, and others completely barren aside for maybe a potted plant. Eugeo stepped up to open the door, but stopped in his tracks.

            “Eugeo!”

            He turned around and politely bowed to a larger boy running over to us. I hastily dropped into a bow myself.

            “Golgorosso-senpai! It’s nice to speak with you again!” Eugeo said.

            He knew this guy? Wasn’t he a first-year as well? The other guy held out something to Eugeo. It was a bottle. I frowned. That seemed odd.

            “For yesterday,” he said.

            I gave Eugeo a funny look. He bowed again and took the bottle from his senior.

            “You didn’t have to give me anything!” he said hastily.

            “It’s the least I could do,” Golgorosso said. “Please, enjoy yourselves here at the Academy. I hope to see you both excelling enough to catch some of our eyes; though, Eugeo, yesterday you stood out in a phenomenal way that I won’t be forgetting so easily.”

            Smiling, Golgorosso turned to me next.

            “I presume you’re Eugeo’s roommate,” he said. “I’m Golgorosso Balto, a second-year student aiming to be in the top ten in my finals this year. I’m pleased to make your acquaintance.”

            I gave another bow, this one rather sloppy.

            “K-Kirigaya Kazuto!” I said. “But I prefer to go by Kirito!”

            “I hope to see you both around,” Golgorosso said, nodding to us each. “Kirito, Eugeo. Do take care. I wish you the best of luck.”

            He turned and headed back to a group of people who seemed to be asking him what he was doing interacted with new students so early on in the school year. Eugeo glanced at the bottle in his hands and sighed.

            “He’s very polite,” he noted.

            “What in the world happened yesterday?” I asked.

            Eugeo’s lips curled up into a funny little smile. He was still gazing over at Golgorosso. I glanced down at the bottle and tilted my head, trying to read the label. It had a name I wasn’t familiar with on the label.

            “Helloooo,” I said. “Is Eugeo home?”

            He jumped a little and blinked at me.

            “Yes, um, yesterday, well…” he stammered. “Do you mind if we go inside before we talk about it?”

            The way he said that, it sounded like he and this Golgorosso were up to no good. I raised an eyebrow at him, stuck between curious and wanting to ask what sort of trouble they were getting themselves into. Eugeo’s eyes were pleading, though, so I sighed and gave in.

            “Alright,” I said. “But just so you know, the way you’re talking around it sounds kind of fishy.”

            He hummed.

            “No, it’s nothing fishy,” he insisted. “I just don’t want any prying ears to spread around things and blow them out of proportion. Enough people likely saw Golgorosso-senpai give this to me, so that’s already a big enough deal. I’m sure people will be talking that up for weeks.”

            Eugeo turned and opened the door, waving for me to come inside. I shuffled in through the door, thanking him, and glanced around the dorm. It wasn’t as fancy as I’d expected, but that, in a way, was relieving. It had cream-colored walls, reddish brown trim and flooring, and a few decorative plants in the lobby. I waited for Eugeo to take the lead again and show me where our living space was.

            “So, what exactly’s in the bottle?” I asked.

            “Oh, right, this is a local thing,” he said. “In Centoria, this is a traditional beverage used to wish someone good luck with something. It’s given to students beginning school, newlyweds, a couple expecting a child, someone opening a new business, and even casually some people give it to gamblers or people trying to ask out their crush.”

            “I’m…guessing it’s the first one,” I said, feeling pretty confident that Eugeo wasn’t married, opening a shop, or going out into the town to test his luck.

            He nodded, confirming my no-effort-needed guess.

            “Is it tea?” I asked.

            “Tea? No, it’s a type of wine,” he said.

            “W-wine? Aren’t you a little young for wine?” I asked.

            In Aincrad, you didn’t drink until you were sixteen. We were both fourteen.

            “No, I don’t think so,” he said, laughing. “I’ve had some before.”

            He stopped in front of a door, fished a key out of his pocket, and opened it up for me to enter. Once again, I thanked him for the door and slipped into the room. I glanced around. It was much bigger than I’d expected. Two separate bedrooms, the living area, a bathroom, and the balcony filled the space.

            “Whoa…” I breathed. “This is…fancy.”

            “Okay, you wanted to know about yesterday?” Eugeo asked.

            I blinked, snapping out of my reverie, and nodded at him.

            “Right,” he said.

            He sat down on the couch and crossed his arms over his chest.

            “It started with a fight.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I accidentally made Eugeo sound like a flat-earther WHOOPs. Haha. It struck me in the middle of writing it.


	3. Conversing

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: I can already tell this fic is gonna drive me crazy since they're first years here and in the one-shot they're fourth years. Not in like, a bad way but in a- "dammit I have to wait to make them kiss!" way. Hahaha. WELL THIS SHOULD BE FUN.

            “A fight?”

            Eugeo didn’t come across initially as someone who might get into a fight. He comported himself in such a friendly way to me that it seemed odd that someone might involve him in a fight. However, he did also speak softly, a trait often associated with reserved people who might get dragged into something without wanting to be. He gave me what looked like an apologetic smile.

            “Yeah, I walked up on a few of the fourth years, and they were fighting with Golgorosso-senpai,” he said. “Obviously, from his physique, you can probably tell that he didn’t need my help dealing with them.”

            I hummed and narrowed my eyes. The way Eugeo made a point of calling out Golgorosso’s muscular build paired with the funny look in his eyes hinted that he had a bit of a crush on the guy. I had to refrain from chuckling at this information. It wouldn’t be right to tease a friend I’d just made about his possible crush on an upperclassman.

            “But one of the fourth years saw me in the background and pulled me into it,” he said.

            So, it was just as I’d imagined. He’d been essentially an innocent bystander.

            “I’m not connecting how you helped him out in this situation,” I said. “You’re setting this up to make it sound like you got bullied.”

            Eugeo waved his hands and laughed.

            “No, no,” he reassured me. “I wasn’t harmed in the least bit. In fact, all that happened was they threatened me a little.”

            “That’s…that’s bullying, Eugeo!”

            “No, trust me, I was fine!” he insisted. “Golgorosso-senpai seemed worried that they’d actually beat me up, but I told them that what they did to me wasn’t relevant to him. They went to follow through on their threat, but I made quick work of them with a few ice spells I already knew.”

            I still failed to see how this constituted as help worthy of praise. I let him keep going, hoping for further clarification.

            “So, onto what he thanked me for,” he said, gazing out of the window. “A teacher found out about the fight. I was called in as a witness, since I guess the snitching fourth-years didn’t want to deal with reporting me and getting another round of ice spells thrown at them.”

            “Are ice spells that terrifying?” I asked.

            Having grown up in Aincrad, I hadn’t received any formal education concerning magic. The way he was talking, there was something unusual about ice spells. He laughed at me and shook his head.

            “No, they’re just rare,” he said. “They aren’t used to having to deal with them because very few people have an affinity for ice magic. But, back to my point, the teacher asked me, as a witness to verify whether or not Golgorosso-senpai violated the academy rules.”

            I raised my eyebrows. There it was.

            “Ah, so you vouched for him and maintained his good image to the teachers,” I said.

            Eugeo nodded.

            “Precisely,” he said.

            He set a couple of glasses down on the table and opened up the bottle. I thought about his actions; in a way, it was kind of sucking up. Fighting was prohibited at the academy even in self-defense. But Eugeo must have been considering something more than just sucking up to a cute boy; he didn’t come across as someone who just lied about things. He poured some of the drink into each glass and handed me one. Unsure of how to respond, I took it and thanked him.

            “I presume from your comment earlier, you’ve never toasted to a school year before,” he said, laughing. “If it’s too strong for you, you don’t have to drink any of it.”

            The wine was a light purplish color, close to a transparent lavender. It had a sweet scent to it when I held it up to my nose. I cast Eugeo a look. He held the glass over to me. I clinked mine against his, giving him an awkward smile as we shared a toast.

            “To a good school year?”

            I nodded.

            “Yeah.”

            To be polite, I lifted the strange drink to my lips and took a generous sip of it. I did my best not to choke as the unfamiliar taste hit my mouth. It was very distinct, almost like a burning, sharp sensation followed by a sweet flavor. The sweetness was pleasant. I glanced over at Eugeo. He was taking a second sip. It would be weird if I didn’t take another sip, too. I took a second.

            “You like it, then?” Eugeo asked.

            I said the first thing that popped in my head.

            “Oh, yeah.”

            What a mistake.

            Eugeo chuckled and poured more into my glass. I awkwardly laughed and took another sip after thanking him. I didn’t want to be rude. What was the worst that could happen? Being over-polite never harmed anyone…

* * *

 

            “And…and then…the next thing I know, he’s…he’s in the middle of the square, crying his eyes out…over…a PIZZA…”

            Long gone was my sense of social awkwardness. I’m sure Eugeo felt the same way. His face was flush and he was laughing much louder than before about my stupid story. It likely was in poor taste that we’d both hit the embarrassing point of being unable to stop using the wine as a filler for when we didn’t know what to say. The bottle was now empty and we were downing our last sips and more at ease with each other than we’d be okay with in the morning.

            “What in the stars was on that pizza?” Eugeo asked, holding his stomach as he laughed.

            I thrust one arm out dramatically.

            “PINEAPPLE!”

            Eugeo doubled over and started to have a giggle fit again. I dumped the last of my drink down my throat, set the glass down on the table, and stood up suddenly. The room started to spin a bit. Eugeo gasped and told me to be careful. I waved him off and staggered over to balcony. From there, despite the wavering world before my eyes, I could see the universe spread out in front of me. I sighed. To think, just a short while ago, I’d taken this beauty for granted because Asuna dumped me.

            “Damn, I won’t ever get tired of lookin’ at that,” I said.

            “I know what you mean.”

            I looked to my right and saw Eugeo leaning on the railing next to me. He was pretty close to me. I gazed up at his face and suddenly felt the world start to focus again. For the first time since we’d been together today, on this first meeting as roommates, there was a smile on his face that didn’t look like it was forced by social habit. His messy flaxen hair glowed a bit in the starlight, as did his vibrant green eyes.

            Maybe it was the wine, but Eugeo looked so beautiful in that moment that everything stopped. All sound and spinning and time just came to a standstill. I’m sure I gaped at him like an idiot as I tried to grapple with what this emotion was that welled up in my chest in that moment. He turned and looked at me, still smiling genuinely.

            “You know,” Eugeo said. “It’s almost like I’ve been waiting to meet you for longer than when I was told you’d be my roommate.”

            Tilting my head, I blinked at him as my eyes lost focus again.

            “What do you mean?” I asked.

            He shook his head.

            “You’re so easy to talk to,” he murmured.

            I chuckled.

            “That’s probably the wine talking,” I said. “I’m normally not so chatty with new people myself.”

            He hummed.

            “I’m not so sure,” he said.

            He gave me a somewhat unreadable smile, patted me on the shoulder, and headed towards the bedroom.

            “Try not to trip getting into bed, okay?” he said.

            “Yeah…same to you…” I said, watching him wobble away.

            I turned back to the night sky and sighed. It was high time I got into bed, too, but something made me want to stay right here and watch the stars forever. They shine more brilliantly at night than they do in the daytime. I don’t get why that is, but they stand out in a way that our main star no longer does. I took in a deep gulp of the fresh air, smiling for the first time since Asuna dumped me.

            “Maybe things aren’t so bad, after all,” I said, yawning.

            I don’t remember climbing into my bed. I woke up in my clothes from the previous day, to my utter dismay. I stared up at the ceiling. My head hurt, likely from downing half a bottle of wine on my first try with any form of alcohol. I turned my head to gaze over across the room. Eugeo was curled up halfway in his covers. His hair was unkempt, his breathing was calm, and his mouth was open just enough that I could hear him breathing.

            Heat filled my cheeks. He was cute. I wanted to reach over and touch his hair. My eyes snapped open and I jerked my head back to face up at the ceiling. As my heart pounded in my chest, a weird feeling filled my stomach. It had only been a single evening.

            “Do I…like him…?” I muttered.

            I cast another glance at him. Butterflies replaced the weird feeling.

            _Uh-oh._


	4. Foreigner

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Heck, have I only posted four chapters of this now? Oof. How did that happen? I lost track of my order of writing chapters, I guess. SO, if you have noticed, I have learned that I can link the one-shot basis to this fic as a series for both SAO Prideweek and for this idea by itself. So, if you haven't read the one-shot inspriation for this fic and would like to, you don't have to scroll through my 43 (plus) other fics to find it. Haha. Hopefully this helps!

            Maybe that weird feeling was just a hangover. I dragged myself outside and barely made it into the grassy area behind the dorm before I threw up. Note to self—don’t let Eugeo be too persuasive about luck-based drinking rituals. I ended up throwing up for a solid seven minutes before I finally stopped and rolled onto my back, groaning. My head was screaming. I squinted around to see if anyone saw me. To my dismay, two boys with smug looks on their faces were approaching me. I tried to sit up.

            One was blond, with long hair that didn’t suit his face shape very well. The other had almost grey hair. It wasn’t long, but it was wavy and seemed longer, even though it was probably about the same length as mine.

            “Someone had a little _too_ much fun last night,” the blond one said, smirking down at me. “I haven’t seen you in Centoria before. Are you a transfer student?”

            I nodded.

            “I’m from Aincrad,” I said.

            “Oh-ho!” the blond said. “From Aincrad, he says, Humbert. A foreigner.”

            I blinked up at them, unamused, and finally sat all the way up. My stomach protested. I really, really needed to rethink my strategy the next time Eugeo pulled out alcohol. The boy with grey hair, apparently called Humbert, kicked at my arm.

            “Are you listening?” he asked.

            I rolled my eyes in his direction and gave him a harsher stare than I’d intended. Taking it as an insult, he picked up his foot and pressed his shoe into my collarbone, pressing me back down to the ground. I bared my teeth at him.

            “What do you want?” I asked.

            His lips curled up into an ugly snarl.

            “I asked why a foreigner like you had to come and dirty our school,” he said, making sure to spit so close to my head that I winced. “It’s bad enough rural scum like your roommate.”

            “R-rural scum?” I repeated.

            They knew Eugeo?

            “Yeah, your little peasant roommate, who doesn’t even have a family name he’s so poor,” the blond said, huffing. “Skill isn’t everything. Understand that. You’re no better than him. Remember your place, lightweight.”

            I frowned up at them.

            “What did Eugeo ever do to you?” I asked.

            They shared a look.

            “Did he ask what the woodcutter did to us, Raios?” Humbert said, choosing to direct his comment away from me. “Did he ask such an ignorant question?”

            Laughing, as if there were anything funny about this conversation, Raios flipped some of his hair behind his shoulder and waved his hand about. My irritation with these two was growing by the second. I wanted to leave. Their unpleasant nature wasn’t helping my hangover. It made my head throb even more.

            “A peasant and his little foreigner roommate out-scored us on the entry exams, and the foreigner has the audacity to ask what they did wrong?” Raios said, humming.

            Now, apparently, I was included in this attack. I grasped Humbert’s foot and shoved it off. He stumbled back a few feet. I picked myself up, wiped my mouth off, and returned the spitting gesture from before. I didn’t really feel like spitting to be rude, though—the taste of vomit was still in my mouth. It was just a convenient moment.

            “Go bother someone else,” I said. “I’m not in the mood to fight.”

            Humbert made a move to throw himself at me as I turned to go back into the dorm. Raios held an arm up to stop him. I remembered Eugeo’s story; fighting was strictly prohibited, and they could get into serious trouble for any kind of fight, ranging from fistfights to magic ones. I smiled to myself as I hurried back up to my room. They could fume about it elsewhere. I had to get ready for my first day of classes today.

            To my surprise, when I walked back into the room, I ran face-first into Eugeo. I could have sworn I was watching where I was going, but I turned into the doorway and we both knocked heads and fell over. We glanced over at the other. He looked absolutely awful. I frowned.

            “Are you hungover, too?” I asked.

            He squinted at me.

            “What?”

            I shook my head.

            “Are you even awake?” I asked.

            He hummed but said nothing. I helped him back up to his feet. I noted that today I was planning on going to pick up textbooks and other supplies. He suggested, very briefly and sounding very half-asleep, that we should tour the campus after we got our supplies. We sat down to a quick breakfast. After we slipped into some decent day clothes, I noticed the spot where I’d hit Eugeo’s forehead looked pretty swollen.

            “Hey, do you want something cold to put on that?” I asked.

            I reached over and brushed his bangs aside. The knot was a lot bigger than I thought it had been. I’d only seen a part of the affected area peeking out from under his locks. He groaned and pressed his hand against his forehead.

            “This will be fine,” he said.

            “Are you sure?” I asked.

            He smiled at me.

            “Ice magic,” he said, laughing. “I don’t need to search for something cold. The bigger question here is whether or not _you_ need something.”

            He reached over and pushed my bangs up. The spot was sore, that was for sure, but I doubted it looked as bad as his. I opened my mouth to tell him that I didn’t need anything for it. The words caught in my mouth as soon as he leaned forward. For a terrifying moment, I thought he was going to kiss my forehead. He gently blew on the spot. I felt a chill rest on the spot.

            “It’s the best I can do for now,” he said, stepping back away from me.

            Eugeo tilted his head and gave me a funny look.

            “What’s wrong?” he asked. “You’re making a funny face.”

            My brain was just as frozen as the ice he’d stuck to my forehead. He’d been so close to my forehead. All of my thoughts stopped. It took him having to wave a hand frantically in front of my face to get me to blink. I shook my head and locked eyes with him.

            “Yes, to the store for textbooks!” I said.

            I hurried ahead of him, despite not knowing where I was going at all. Eugeo dashed after me, quickly catching up and matching my pace.

            “I’m sorry if I’ve given off the wrong impression,” he said. “If you don’t want any more alcohol, I won’t give you any.”  
            I found myself laughing.

            “No, I’m happy to oblige any time!” I said.

            The words were already out of my mouth before I realized what I’d said. But Eugeo was already full-steam ahead, having taken my comment for what it was and not what I’d meant in the back of my head where he couldn’t hear my thoughts screaming to never get drunk in front of him again.

            “Oh, I’ll keep that in mind next time I have some,” he said, smiling. “We really did a number on that bottle. Maybe next time we’ll make it two sittings instead of one.”

            “Do you know where we’re headed?” I asked, trying to change the subject.

            He nodded.

            “Yeah, follow me,” he said. “I’ll show you to the best place to buy supplies in town.”

            I cocked my head.

            “And that is?”

            His eyes were sparkling like emeralds in a candle flame. This clearly excited him. I wondered what about a simple shop got him so excited. He grasped my hand and tugged on it, pulling me along with him.

            “A little bookshop called Lyserith’s!”


	5. Cardinal

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: It's been toooooo long. Have some boys with some books!

            The shop Eugeo dragged me to looked rather quaint from the outside. It almost resembled  little church, with spires and crosses on it, the marks of the Axiom Church. Yet despite it’s strict, religious feel, I could almost feel a friendly warmth seeping out of the doors. No, it was more so like when the old lady on the block cracks her window just a bit after baking a pie, and the whole neighborhood can smell it. It was that kind of a feeling—that something very good was hiding just inside the window.

            Eugeo happily hopped up the steps and swung the door to the bookshop open. I scurried after him, surprised at his pace. When I walked through the door, I stopped in my tracks and gazed up at the shelves surrounding me. I felt like I’d just walked into oblivion. Books covered the walls, stretching upwards so high that I thought I’d fall over if I tried to look at the top shelf. As I started to tip backwards, Eugeo reached over and caught me with one hand.

            “Amazing, isn’t it?” he said.

            I turned my attention him. His eyes lit up like shimmering stars. It didn’t take a genius to know this was Eugeo’s happy place. The angelic smile on his face as he turned to pull a book off of the shelf made my heart skip a beat. I shook my head. I had to remind myself that I was only choosing to thrust my empty heart at him because of my breakup with Asuna. I barely knew him. I sighed and dragged my feet over to him.

            “So, what’s that?” I asked.

            The spine of the book in his hands read “A Complete History of Alfheim” in scripted gold letters. I fought the urge to grimace. The book was so large I wondered how he was holding it up so easily—and that meant that all of those pages were covered in historical facts about Alfheim. The thought of reading through that made me shudder, but Eugeo looked like he’d just found diamonds.

            “I’ve already bought the matching volumes for the histories of Underworld, Aincrad, Asuka Empire, and a brief abridged history of SBC Glocken,” he said. “I’m missing both Alfheim and Jotunheim.”

            I frowned.

            “You collect history books?” I said. “What do you do with them?”

            He laughed.

            “Don’t be silly, Kirito!” he said. “I read them! What else would you do with books?”

            I didn’t have a response for that. He re-shelved the book and wandered a little further into the store, with me trailing behind him like a lost puppy. Further in, I realized that Lyserith’s didn’t just have books—there were rolls of parchment, quills and ink, ingredients for potions and magic spells, as well as things like measuring implements and art supplies.

            In the back of the shop, where Eugeo seemed to be making a beeline, was a little bar-like setup with stools and beautifully written out drink menus. The little mini-bar served only things like teas and baked goods, but the items all sounded tantalizing. Eugeo hopped up on one of the stools and leaned his elbows on the bar, smiling at the short woman behind it.

            “You again?” she said.

            She smiled kindly at him. Her round face might have seemed younger if she removed her glasses. She gave off the vibes of a wise old woman, and yet she looked almost like a child behind the bar. Without even asking Eugeo what he wanted, she set down a cup of tea and a little pie that could fit in his hand.

            “Kirito, you should try one!” he said. “The honey pies!”

            I glanced at the treat he’d received and then looked over at the lady and bit my lip. I hadn’t come expecting to buy treats. I almost had to refuse politely, when the woman sat down a cup of tea and a honey pie in front of me with a kind smile.

            “Refreshments are free,” she said. “I just like treating my guests.”

            At first, I didn’t know what to say. It was an odd gesture—why set this up if not for profit? Nevertheless, I was grateful for the free snack. I thanked her and glanced at Eugeo as I took a bite of the pie. The sweet flavor filled my mouth with delight. Eugeo laughed and took a sip of his tea after blowing on it.

            “So, Miss Cardinal, I presume supplies are ready to be picked up for the year?” he asked.

            She gave a nod of her head.

            “Everything is packed up according to your classes by year,” she said. “I’ve made sure to include a few encouragement items as well. I hope you find them all to your liking. You’re free to go and select one package out of the first years’ grouping in the back there.”

            Eugeo hopped off of the seat, thanking her, and scrambled off. I moved to follow after him, but Cardinal cleared her throat. I turned to face her, feeling a bit intimidated. She gazed at me with sad, knowing eyes.

            “It’s not easy for foreigners to fit in in this place,” she said. “I’ve watched many youths who grew up on other floating islands choose to turn tail and run away because they didn’t fit in. I encourage you to find a reason to stay, no matter how small.”

            I blinked at her, unsure of what to say.

            “And it will be harder for someone with magic like yours,” she continued.

            I stiffened up.

            “Magic…like mine?”

            She gave me a firm nod.

            “Yes,” she said. “Children whose bloodline comes from two different floating islands often have strange, unpredictable magic. It’s difficult to control and oftentimes is destructive. That will cause you grief in your social life. But this boy here, the one you’ve come in with—he doesn’t seem to see things the way others in the academy do.”

            I glanced over at Eugeo, who was gleefully looking through the packages of school supplies, likely trying to figure out which one had the best treats inside. So far, the only problem I’d noticed had come with the two boys this morning. Bullies were everywhere—I’d seen my fair share of them back in Aincrad, too. It was common to be bullied for having mixed heritage. My mother was from Aincrad, my father was from Alfheim. I was used to it, I guess. But the way she spoke made it sound like this bullying was abnormal.

            “He’ll be a wonderful friend,” she said. “In the short time I’ve come to know him, he’s already warmed my old heart. If you ever need an ear, I’m here to listen.”

            Having said her piece, she whacked a cane on the counter and made a funny little sound.

            “Hoi!”

            I jumped.

            “Go on over there and select your supply bag,” she said. “Then you may come back and finish your tea.”

            I gave her a smile and nodded.

            “Thank you,” I said.

            She returned the smile with warmth in her eyes. I scrambled over to Eugeo and he started pointing out the contents of the different supply bags. I kept my laughter internal, but his joy at looking through all of the different options made that little bit of a hangover headache start to disappear. We both selected a bag and hurried back to our seats at the bar to pay for our goods.

            “Oh, this is so exciting,” Eugeo said. “These textbooks are so full of good information!”

            I made a face and flipped through some of the pages of the topmost book in my stack.

            “Do we have to read all of this?” I said.

            “Of course, we do!” Eugeo said.

            Cardinal chuckled.

            “You’ll have to keep an eye on this one,” she said, winking at Eugeo.

            He giggled.

            “I suppose I will,” he said.

            Eugeo flashed a smile at me. His eyes were wide and bright with joy. They sparkled with delight as he clutched his textbook. His smile was soft like the glowing light of the sunrise. I somehow found it in myself to smile back at him.

            _Find a reason to stay, no matter how small_ , _huh_? I thought.


	6. Awkward Trio

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Sorry for taking so long, I hit a major stuck moment writing this chapter. Ugh. But! Here it is!

            Our entrance ceremony was held on the second day of the week, signaling the beginning of the new term. We slipped on our uniforms, cleaned up as best as teenage boys could, and then hurried down to file into our seats. Eugeo and I slipped in the back, hoping no one noticed that we were running a little late. The holdup had been that we’d misplaced our shoes the night before and found them under the other’s bed.

            When we took our seats, a girl in front of us with straw-blonde hair turned around and gave us a pointed look. We glanced at each other and then looked at her again. I blinked. I didn’t know what she wanted, but she looked slightly irritated. She crossed her arms over her chest.

            “Why are you late on the first day?” she asked.

            I frowned.

            “What’s it to you? There was an incident,” I muttered.

            She huffed indignantly.

            “Punctuality is important no matter what happened,” she said. “If there was truly an incident, then you wouldn’t be here right now.”

            “Okay, I’m sorry I offended you, your highness,” I said.

            Eugeo choked on his air.

            “Kirito!” he hissed. “Don’t just insult people!”

            I grumbled to myself and sat back in my chair. The blonde girl huffed a second time and then whirled around to face forwards. The entire class was officially seated, and up front, a woman with mirror-like eyes was welcoming us to the first day of the school year. She waved her hands out in front of her.

            “The coursework ahead of you will prove to be quite a challenge,” she said, her voice smooth and alluring. “You entered this academy due to your high marks on the entrance exams. We expect great things from all of you. First and second year students, remember that your upperclassmen have their eyes on you. Third years will be looking for candidates to mentor as fourth year students. Be sure to perform well and impress them!”

            “What was her name again?” I whispered.

            Eugeo groaned.

            “She’s the headmistress!” he said. “Quinella!”

            I hummed to acknowledge his statement and turned my head back to the podium, determined to try and focus on the rest of the speakers. This was all incredibly boring to me. I’d rather be in the classroom learning magic than stuck out here listening to them talk about excellent academic achievements.

            The next person took the stage, a teacher named Azurica. She gave us an overview of how the first term was going to go. It was even more boring than the headmistress’ speech before her. I fought to try and keep my eyes open. She then introduced teachers to us. I blanked on their names for now; I’d figure them out later when I was in my classes.

            We were released for breakfast about an hour later. I dragged myself along behind Eugeo to get food. Along with a healthy helping of whatever this school food actually was, I made sure to grab myself a cup of black cofil tea. Eugeo grimaced as he watched me put the drink to my mouth and take a long swig of it.

            “You drink that straight?” he said. “Doesn’t the bitterness bother you?”

            I shook my head.

            “Nah, caffeine is caffeine,” I said. “It doesn’t need sugar or milk to do its job.”

            He shook his head.

            “Still, sugar and cream help to improve the flavor quite a bit,” he said. “I can taste the bitterness just watching you drink that.”

            I chuckled to myself, shoveled some of my food into my mouth, and then washed it down with more cofil tea. Eugeo sighed and started to eat his breakfast. He jumped when a bowl was slammed down next to him suddenly. We looked over to see the blonde girl was back. She was giving us both a disapproving frown as she sat herself down next to Eugeo.

            “Oh, look, it’s miss punctuality,” I said.

            She sniffed.

            “I don’t appreciate your tone—Kirito, was it?” she said.

            I took another spoonful and shoved it into my mouth.

            “What do you want?” I asked. “If you don’t like us, then why did you come and sit down with us?”  
            She looked offended.

            “Who said I didn’t like you?” she said. “I was merely disappointed in your tardiness.”

            Eugeo and I exchanged another look.

            “My name is Alice,” she said. “Alice Zuberg. And I’ve determined that I will become your friend, since fate caused me to notice you as you hurried in late to class.”

            I frowned.

            “You have trouble making friends, don’t you?” I asked.

            “Kirito!” Eugeo exclaimed.

            Alice smirked at me.

            “Only as much trouble as you do,” she retorted. “The only person I’ve noticed you saying hello to or speaking to at all is your friend here. What was your name again?”

            “Eugeo.”

            “Right, Eugeo. The only person in this entire room that you’ve looked at and spoken to other than myself, and I made the effort to come over here and interact with you, so I don’t even really count, do I?”

            She was definitely a bit irritating.

            “What are you trying to get at?” I said.

            Holding her chin up, she stuck her right hand out to me over the table.

            “I told you, I’m going to become your friend, Kirito,” she said. “From one socially awkward person to another.”

            Before taking her hand, I gave Eugeo an exasperated look. He shrugged. I reached over and shook her hand. Alice smiled. She looked a lot more pleasant doing that. She released my hand, smoothed down her uniform, and then took a bite of her breakfast as if we hadn’t just had a strange conversation.

            “So, what do you two like to do for fun?” she asked.

            Eugeo blinked for a few moments before responding.

            “I like to read,” he said.

            Alice turned her head to me, probably hoping for a less boring answer.

            “Oh…I…I like building things,” I said. “I like how things are put together. But I also enjoy going on little excursions. Adventures, if you will.”

            She giggled.

            “You seem like someone who’s trying very hard not to come across as a mischief maker, but deep down we know you really are,” she said.

            I furrowed my brow.

            “What makes you say that?” I mumbled.

            “He’s definitely a mischief maker,” Eugeo said, laughing.

            “Oi! Don’t back her up!” I said.

            He put one hand up apologetically and dipped his head down.

            “Sorry, sorry,” he said. “It’s just that I’ve only known you for a few days and I’ve already gotten that same read on you.”

            I pulled my teacup up to my face and took a sip of it, hiding my face behind it to try and keep them from seeing the face I was making. Alice told us that at the end of the first week, the first years were all going to throw a small meet and greet down at Lyserith’s. She wanted to go, but she didn’t want to go alone.

            “So, that’s why you scouted us out,” I said. “Two socially awkward people who would want to gang up with a third one to go out and socialize.”

            She gave a bit of a nod, as if she were trying to both agree and disagree with my statement. She tapped one finger on the table.

            “Look, I’m not going to drag you, obviously,” she said. “But I would appreciate some company. If nothing else, we go for just a little bit to say we went, and then we duck out and go do something else. Besides, a snack from Lyserith’s is always worth a trip.”

            I nodded, having to agree with her this time.

            “Fair,” I said. “What do you say, Eugeo? Weekend bookshop party?”

            He laughed awkwardly.

            “Sounds fun,” he said.

            He didn’t sound so convincing.

            “Great!” Alice said. “We can meet up after classes let out and then we’ll head over together!”

            Eugeo and I sighed. In a nutshell, that was how we met Alice Zuberg.


	7. The Chaotic Half-Breed

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Any time I update this, I feel like it's been years. I know it hasn't been, I've only been on AO3 since December 2017, but it...it just feels like years...maybe I just don't feel good...it's the low point of a year right? I'm allowed to feel meh.

            One of the main reasons I was here was to learn how to get a handle on my magic. It was a chaotic sort of magic that no one in my adoptive family knew how to handle. My mom always said I must have gotten it from my biological father, since she and her sister were both from Alne, but my father reportedly came from Underworld. The magic of Alne was considerably different than the magic of Underworld, so while my mom and dad could teach me how to fly and use spells of their kind, they couldn’t explain the chaotic dark magic my father had passed down to me.

            The solution? Send me to a boarding school across the starscape.

            Magic here seemed to be much more innate than spell-driven and learnable. In class, this was much more evident. The teacher who taught us magic was known as the sacred arts professor. He was a patient man by the name if Deusolbert. His innate magic was fire-based, the sort of opposite of Eugeo’s ice-based magic. Our first hands-on activity was to see how our magic could affect physical objects.

            Sitting in front of us, we had several mundane objects. There was a piece of pottery, a bowl of water, potted plant, a loaf of bread, and some dry branches. The object of the exercise was to gently use a little of our magic on each of the objects to see how our magic manipulated things in the real world. It was to give us an idea of how powerful our magic was and also what it was good for. I swallowed and watched Eugeo next to me.

            “So…so…how do you…activate it?” I asked.

            It was likely a really stupid question from Eugeo’s perspective. Everyone seemed to be using magic without an issue. They were struggling in perhaps the degree to which they could control their output, but otherwise they all had the hang of activating it. Eugeo frowned at me and pulled his hands away from the piece of pottery he’d been freezing.

            “You…you don’t know how?” he asked.

            I swallowed and shook my head no.

            “I can do some spells from Alne, but it doesn’t look like any of you are using spells,” I said.

            His eyebrows knit together in confusion.

            “Magic from Underworld is innate, remember?” he said. “Since you’re half Underworldian, you should be able to activate your natural magic without using any spell words. I’ve been doing it to a degree since I was a kid. Was there anything you can remember doing without trying to?”

            I nodded. That was why I was here. Sometimes, when I wasn’t trying to do anything, my magic would interfere with something and cause a huge mess. I knew from that that my powers were a bit destructive and looked inky black in some lights and deep purple in others. I stared down at my hands.

            “Can you think of anything in common with those circumstances?” Eugeo asked. “It’s a bit hard to describe the feeling of using magic. It’s second nature to me.”

            Taking a deep breath, I searched back in my thoughts, trying to connect the dots between different times I’d used magic. It was always at the worst time. I’d be very excited about something and a bit nervous. Then, when I went to calm myself down and execute whatever I was doing, I’d slip up and release magic, scaring whoever was in a three-mel radius. I frowned just thinking about it. That didn’t tell me much.

            “It always happens on accident,” I said. “During moments when I’m calm, and I think I have my bearings, it comes out and makes me slip up.”

            Eugeo hummed and stared up at the ceiling. I wondered what he was thinking about. This was something that came so naturally to him. Having to think about how to go back to his childhood and relearn the skill all over again probably wasn’t an easy thing for him to do. But he didn’t appear to be bothered as he thought about how to help me out. His eyebrows raised a little. He came and stood behind me, then placed his hands on my waist.

            “Wh-what are you doing?!” I asked.

            He laughed.

            “Relax,” he said. “Make sure your hips are even.”

            I swallowed. My face felt hot.

            “O-okay,” I said. “Then?”

            Eugeo hummed.

            “What are you so nervous about?” he asked.

            I shook my head.

            “N-nothing!” I exclaimed. “It’s nothing! What next?”

            Another hum came from behind me—this one sounded much more curious. He reached forward from behind me and grasped my wrists. He held them out at length and shook my arms a little bit.

            “Loosen up,” he said. “You can’t produce any magic if you’re tense.”

            Trying to calm my racing heart, I nodded. It was hard not to be tense with him touching me like this. It was weirdly unnerving. I did my best to loosen up my limbs. I felt him nod over my shoulder. My pulse spiked even more. He was really close. His face was close.

            “Calm down, what are you so nervous about?” he asked again, this time laughing.

            I swallowed. I didn’t know.

            “I know, it’s embarrassing to not be able to do it at our age,” he said softly. “Just relax. The key here is to be comfortable. I can’t produce magic under pressure. I’m assuming you probably can’t either. So, just calm down as best as you can, and try to focus your energy to your hands. Your hands are your focal point. Magic energy is expelled through the hands.”

            He finally let go of me. My pulse was easier to control now. I focused on my hands. I aimed my palms at the bowl of water, drew in a slow, steady breath, and then imagined myself producing magic from my palms. I felt myself tense up a little after a few seconds of trying, so I took another breath, and tried again. This time, I felt something.

            A purple glow started to come from my hands. I stared at them, dumbfounded for a moment, and then swallowed. I looked back at Eugeo, who was smiling at my success. My heart skipped a beat. Why did his smile look so warm? I blinked a few times, trying to clear up my head. I let out a short breath.

            “So…so now what?” I stammered.

            Eugeo waved his hands.

            “Release!” he said.

            I waved my hands a little bit.

            “Like thi—”

            Energy, as black at the night, burst from my palms at full force, sending the objects on the table flying. No, that wasn’t quite right. It sent the table flying. And the one across from it. The student across from my yelped and dove out of the way. I could feel the panic building up inside of me. I hadn’t meant to do that, and now I couldn’t turn it off.

            “HOW DO I MAKE IT STOP!” I shouted more than asked.

            If I moved at all, the black mass of magic moved with me, knocking something or someone else flying. Guilt welled up in my chest. I didn’t mean to. I didn’t want to hurt anyone or destroy anything. I just wanted to perform the exercise like everyone else.

            As the magic spilled out of my hands, I could feel my energy waning. It usually did this until I passed out. I never knew how to start or stop it. It just happened. I’d do something, the magic would activate without me telling it to, and then objects and people would go flying. It was the same vicious pattern over and over and over again. Every mistake I made looked exactly like this back home. That’s what they meant by chaotic, I supposed.

            The professor hurried over to me and did something that cancelled out the magic. I lowered my hands and wobbled a little bit. My head felt a bit light. Eugeo stepped in front of me. His mouth was moving, but I couldn’t hear anything coming out of it. I squinted at him for a moment. I did my best to apologize, and then my knees buckled. All of the lights went out.


End file.
